The invention relates to a process for producing rigid or flexible, electrically conductive conductor tracks/circuits or also 3D-molded interconnection devices with concomitant use of a conductive polymer.
The production of rigid and flexible electronic conductor track/circuits by various subtractive, additive and semiadditive processes on rigid and flexible substrates is generally known and has, in various designs, been a part of the state of the art for many years (Gunther Herrmann, Handbuch der Leiterplattentechnik Handbook of printed circuit technology!, published by Eugen G. Leuze Verlag, 1982, D-88348 Saulgau).
For some time, conductive polymers have been increasingly playing a role in the production of printed circuits. Thus, the use of conductive polymers, in particular of polypyrrole, for the direct drill hole metallization of printed circuits and also of flexible circuits by electroplating is described in German Offenlegungsschrift 3,806,884. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,467, the use of polythiophenes for the same purpose, namely for direct through-contacting of printed circuits by electroplating, is specifically claimed.
The use of conductive polymers has also been proposed for the production of conductor tracks. In European Patent No. 615,256, a process using poly-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene for producing conductor tracks is described. In this process, the conductive polymer is applied or structured in the form of the desired image of conductor tracks. This process has the disadvantage that, after the structuring of the conductive layer, there are only individual, not interconnected conductive tracks present on the substrate, which tracks accordingly have to be contacted individually for the electroplating metallization.